Basket Case

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by legion

Wow, you guys are rough. No sympathy for taking on a hopeless project, eh?

I guess I won't be posting updates.

wow 14000 plus posts and you're just noticing that now ?? Ok who's on Legions computer ???

[aigel]

That thing is fugly even in the glory picture Rob posted.

That said, getting a long dead machine back to running is a ton of fun. I have done it a half dozen times with cars. Some of them were equally desirable than this bike.


George

[legion]

THE PLAN

The plan was to pull the spark plugs, drain the fluids, spray some mystery oil in the cylinders, and fire it up on Wednesday.

THE REALITY

There was some debris around the the spark plugs, so I blew it out with my air compressor. When I looked at the tops of the spark plugs, I realized that what I had blown out was the hex heads on the plugs, which had long since turned to dust. That's right, the plugs are still in the holes and we have no way of getting them out.

We decided to pull the cylinder head. Unfortunately to do this we had to pull the carbs, which meant pulling the airbox. But the head cover would still not come off, so we pulled the magnetos, the fan, the radiator...and it became apparent that the head cover would not come off with the engine in the bike. We drained the fluids. We pulled the studs that keep the engine in place. After three hours, we called it a night.

THE FLUIDS

The brake fluid is greenish-white. The coolant was brown with LOTS of rust in it. The oil was thin and watery, and the color of milk chocolate. This bike has hit the trifecta of the worst brake fluid, coolant, and oil I have ever seen.

THE PICTURES

[legion]

THE PICTURES CONTINUED

[911Rob]

Ya'all look happy
You didn't tell us it was your sister?

[varmint]

a few years back somebody realized you could take a dirt cheap 20 year old 750 honda and make a cafe racer out of it. shame no one has found a similar use for all the virago type bikes.

[legion]

Nope. Not my sister.

[legion]

We pulled the engine today and started to pull the cylinder head. The timing chain is in the middle of the the camshafts, so you must pull the cams to pull the head.

[legion]

We rotated the engine. It rotates easily.

We also got the cylinder head off.

The engine looks pretty clean inside overall, just two areas of concern:

1) The lobes on the camshafts have some corrosion and pitting.

2) One of the cylinders has some light scoring. (Not visible, but will catch a fingernail.)

We're trying to determine what would be the cheapest course of action for each part.

For the camshafts, would it be cheapest to:

-Buy new?
-Buy used?
-Have them welded/reground?

The cylinders can be removed from the engine block. For the cylinders, would it be cheapest to:

-Buy new?
-Buy used?
-Have the existing ones machined?

[aigel]

Which direction is the scoring in the cylinder? You aren't talking about the lip at the very top of the cylinder, correct? If you can feel it, you should be able to see it too.

Minor pitting on cams isn't a big deal, send us a picture, so we can evaluate it. If they need work, would look for a set of used ones. Restoring cams would be on the order of $200.

Does the sun ever shine in the winter where you live? You guys are a pale set of people!

George

[legion]

All of the halogen lamps I have in the garage make us look that way.

The corrosion on the cams is pretty bad:



The pitting on the right on is about 1.5-2mm deep:

[aigel]

Yes, those are toast. Cams that just have some pitting usually have it on the ramp / tip part of the cam lobe, where the forces are highest.

Sorry, I am of no help in recommending a motorcycle cam shop. Also not sure where to get parts for this - try EBay.

Good Luck!

George

[cmccuist]

Chris, will these '89 cams work?

eBay cams

And if all else fails:

'85 engine

[legion]

Thank you for the links. I forwarded them to the owner. I'm guessing she will buy the cams but hold off on the engine.

[rick-l]

Out of curiosity.... how long would those last if you just took off the rust?